Mitsui & Co. Ltd. (Mitsui/Head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President & CEO: Masami Iijima)
and Seven-Eleven (China) Investment Co., Ltd. (SEC), a subsidiary of Seven-Eleven Japan Co., Ltd. (SEJ/Head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Ryuichi Isaka) have agreed to establish a new joint venture company (provisionally called New Nine Business Development Co., Ltd) with Southern Hope Industrial Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China's New Hope Group Co., Ltd., (New Hope Group) to open 7-Eleven stores in the Chinese city of Chongqing. The New Hope Group is China's leading private agribusiness firm and is also active in the food business. Mitsui and SEC intend to work with the New Hope Group to launch the new stores in Chongqing as a franchise operation through this joint venture and plan to open the first store in the city during 2013.

SEJ embarked upon full-scale development of its Chinese convenience store operations in Beijing and Tianjin in 2004, and it has continued to expand its operations by opening stores in Chengdu, Shanghai and Qingdao. As one of China's National Central Cities, Chongqing has been designated by the Chinese government as one of four direct controlled municipalities (along with Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin). With an overall population of 30 million (of which 8 million live in the urban area) and an economy that grew at a rate of 13.6% in 2012, Chongqing is expected to undergo significant economic development in future as one of inland China's core cities. It is because of the growth in demand for convenience stores and other retail business that is expected to accompany this rapid economic expansion that this initiative to roll out the 7-Eleven stores in the city has come about.

Making use of its capabilities to provide multifaceted services, including supplying commodities and raw materials and logistical operations, Mitsui will play an active role in developing the business in combination with the franchise operations. The New Hope Group is one of Mitsui's principal partners in the food resources and food products business in China, and by working in collaboration with its partner to expand the store chain in Chongqing Mitsui will be able to benefit from the group's extensive knowledge of the city as well as its rich knowhow in the local real estate business, which will be instrumental in securing prime sites.

Mitsui and SEC will continue to work in concert with the New Hope Group and contribute to distribution and retail operations in Chongqing by developing 7-Eleven stores in the city with a view to ensuring the stable supply of goods and improvements in services required by its citizens.

Profile of the joint venture company

Name	New Nine Business Development Co., Ltd (provisional)
Location	Chongqing, People's Republic of China
Date of establishment	July 2013 (provisional)
Capital	CNY200million
Ownership	Seven-Eleven (China) Investment Co., Ltd. Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Southern Hope Industrial Co., Ltd.
Business activities	Direct management and franchising of 7-Eleven convenience stores

Profile of SEC

Name	Seven-Eleven (China) Investment Co., Ltd.
Location	Beijing, People's Republic of China
Date of establishment	2008
Ownership	Seven-Eleven Japan 100%
Representative	Fumio Inoue, President
Business activities	Business investment and master licensing for Severn-Eleven in China

Profile of the New Hope Group

Name	New Hope Group Co., Ltd.
Location	Chengdu, Sichuan Province, People's Republic of China
Date of establishment	1982
Ownership	Unlisted
Representative	Liu Yonghao, President
Business activities	Mixed feed, livestock, meat processing, dairy products, chemicals, finance, real estate
Relationship with Mitsui	2009: Memorandum of agreement on a strategic alliance concluded 2010: New Mit Enterprise Co., Ltd (feed material importer and sales company - New Hope Group 55%/Mitsui 45% ) established

Equity structure of the joint venture company

Notice:
This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on Mitsui's current assumptions, expectations and beliefs in light of the information currently possessed by it and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause Mitsui's actual results, financial position or cash flows to be materially different from any future results, financial position or cash flows expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and other factors referred to above include, but are not limited to, those contained in Mitsui's latest Annual Securities Report and Quarterly Securities Report, and Mitsui undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.
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